


Railways to Nowhere

by WaffleNights



Series: Splatoon ramblings [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, Minor Marina/Pearl (Splatoon), No betas cause no friends, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Splatoon 2, Splatoon ensemble in the background, Squidbeak Splatoon, Two Agent 8s
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:20:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24097957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaffleNights/pseuds/WaffleNights
Summary: Agent 7 has a conflict of interest. She isn’t sure whether she should remain on the surface or stay in the new life she’s making for herself.While helping 4 train in the metro, the two try to help figure out where the octoling should go from there.
Relationships: Agent 3 & Agent 8 (Splatoon), Agent 4 & Agent 8 (Splatoon), Agent 4/Agent 8 (Splatoon)
Series: Splatoon ramblings [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1776790
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this sucks, I’m new to writing.
> 
> Basically I split Agent 8 into two characters! I’m not going to describe them introductory in story but basically she’s purple and has two tentacles with a braid in the style of the bubble afro going down her back.
> 
> Ps, the Agents have names. Three’s is Delthea, Four’s is Suezshi (sooz-she) and Seven and Eight have been just going by their numbers.

Agent Seven threw her head towards the door.  
“Hey there Sevs.” Agent Four bumped open the door, two steaming mugs in hand. Seven sighed, eyes returning to the laptop on her lap. 

“...Gee, thanks for asking! It’s a hot cup of cocoa!” She dropped her voice dramatically, “Coincidentally, one of these happens to be for a brooding octoling on my couch.” The agent continued to scroll through the website.  
“Psst, Seven; that’s you!” Seven finally put the screen down and turned to the other girl. Agent Four had one mug that was plain red, with the other being heavily splatoween inspired. Seven took the blank one.  
“I know of your persistance of celebrating holidays early, but spring is much too soon for any splatoween festivities.”  
“Heh, who said I ever put it away? Waste of a perfectly good mug! And, take a look at yours then.” Seven scrunched her face, turning the cup around showing a snowman smiling back, much like Seven’s acquaintance now sitting beside her.  
“It is practical.”  
“Obviously! Ugh, Del always gets so annoyed whenever I use them.”  
“Hm.”  
“Anyways, what’cha up to?”  
“Looking for an adequate apartment offering.”  
“What?!” Four all but screamed into her ear. She set her cup aside before Four made her tip it while pushing into Seven’s space.

“But, I thought you were staying here?!”  
“You already have a roomate, Agent Four.”  
“If three’s a crowd, Del’s only here cause she’s hurt! She’s been planning to move out since, well, ever!”  
“And I doubt she will be in such a state to be able anytime soon. Agent Three is still recovering from her injuries.” Glancing her way, Seven saw how distressed the squid was becoming. How quickly does she get close to others? She’s already heartbroken for cod’s sake!

“Look, it is not just you. I will admit I don’t even know if I will stay surface wise. It wouldn’t make sense to push Three out just for me to leave. Better for bothering as least people as possible.”  
“You’re not bothering us! You’re our friend in a tight spot with nowhere to go. Of course we let you stay.” Four was starting to get very interested in her drink. Seven resigned to continuing her search.

“.... I thought everyone who heard the Inkantation wanted to come up here?”  
Seven let out a breath. She’s still confused how no one had noticed until Seven herself announced it.  
“I did.”  
“You don’t like it here?”  
“I didn’t say that.”  
“Then why leave?”  
“It just... feels wrong.” The inkling blanched.  
“I only came here because I felt forced to. There are apparently so many other octarians who wanted to be topside, and yet, of all of them, of the ten thousands, it was me and Eight that got away. She is the one who should remain here.”  
“Well, I’m glad one of them were you. You’re my friend.” Seven didn’t know how to respond. She just held the screen and waited for her roommate to continue the conversation. But she didn’t. Just kept at her drink. Seven stared at hers. 

“My drink is getting cold. I’m going to heat it up, don’t wait for me.” Seven put Four’s laptop aside and got up to leave, when Four jumped off the couch.  
“Wait! If you’re going to bed, I wanted to ask you, well, prolly ask you something!”  
Seven raised a brow. “Probably?”  
“Take me to the Deepsea Metro!” She then choked.  
“What?”  
“The subway-“  
“I understand-the wording, I get the wording, but, why exactly would you want to go down there?”  
“You, Eight, Delthea, you’ve all been through there! Talked about how tough it was, what about me? Sure I took on that stupid Octavio, but you three are clearly so much better at being agents than I am. I wanna get better! Out of eight, I can’t be the worst, I’m even the oldest of our group!”

Four was very animated when she started talking, but started to curl inwards. Had she crossed a line? It didn’t feel like it. And she did have a point. As well as an opportunity to test a theory.  
“... When do you want to leave?” She gasped.  
“Really?! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Is tomorrow good?”  
“Tomorrow? Heh, very well. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”  
“Yes! Thank you Sevs, thank you!” Four nearly jumped into her arms-  
“Wait wait- the drink!”


	2. Chapter 2

The cafe closest to one of the enterances was their decided meeting spot. The two had gone over it several times. And yet Agent Four was nowhere to be seen.  
Seven continued to clean her glasses, trying to make sure she would be able to see down there. She knew of a pair that would work perfectly but, it just put a bad taste in her mouth, putting them back on. Even the idea... 

Seven had glasses. They would work. She had to pay Agent Five back for helping her get them. One of the worst shocks of the escape was discovering her farsightedness. Eight had to do some missions just because Seven had continually gotten splatted. All she could to was have faith Four could hold her own or attempt convincing her to avoid the stations all together; which knowing Four could be an impossibility. Though, it was all up to Seven how long the two would remain underground. She just had to gage her thoughts then she could send Four back home. It would be easy.

Thankfully Four entered soon enough, a duffel bag on her shoulder and waving at some friends of her’s Seven had begun to recognize. ‘Just off fraternizing, huh?’ Four ran towards her table. “Hi, hi, hi~! Sorry for the wait, Hyun wanted some help testing a new weapon he got, hope you don’t mind!”  
“I do.” Four froze.   
“Huh?”  
“You want to be a better agent, you have to take this seriously. That includes managing your time.”  
“But- my team needed my help!”  
“Yes, and several agents are celeberties with many vying for their time of day. Yet they’re able.”  
“Ugh, I hate it when you guys are right.”  
“We can work on that later, we’re focusing on your actual skill now. Speaking of, is your agent gear in your duffel?”  
“No? What?”  
“Four, I told you-“  
“I’m wearing it! Headphones in all!”  
...  
“You wear your agent gear, of a platoon that is supposed to remain secret, as your everyday gear? I’ve seen you wear that hoodie every day I’ve known you!”  
“Yeesh, it’s not like the hat is apart of it. It fits casually and no one knows what Squidbeak agents wear in the first place. That we even exist for that matter.” Seven took a deep breath. And another.   
“Alright. Nevermind, let’s get going.”

The octoling got up, grabbing her glasses before heading for the door.  
“You were here the whole time and didn’t get food?”  
“I had expected you to enter sooner.”  
“Sorry.”  
“It’s fine. Now, how much do you know of the metro?”  
“You have stations, they’re like the depots, but no zapfish at the end?”  
“Shorter than most missions in length. How long one can take in the station varies.”  
“Well yeah, Eight talked about how some missions would take forever. Can we skip those?” Seven hopped the gate and glared back towards Four.   
“Better agents can take longer missions. Clearly patience is a virtue you need to perfect.” Four shrugged and slid down the slope. At least Seven knew she could guide the other agent away from the more taxing stations. She pulled her hood over her face, double checking that the two hadn’t been watched. She knew they were allowed to go down there, but the idea didn’t make her any less uneasy. ‘Just help train Four and get this shenanigan over with.’


	3. Chapter 3

Eight cocked her head to the side, mimicking the sea slug in front of her. Slug-sitting was easier than Delthea made it out to be. He was silent, followed Eight, albeit at a snail’s pace, and was too slow to break anything before Eight could grab him. That might be why the squid left her alone with him. Eight was thankful she wasn’t shouting, but it made her anxious to not hear what she was saying, or what was being said to her. Eight pushed the slug’s head down, giggling at the sight of him squish like a seal.  
Delthea walked back in, continuing to pace behind her, talking with a client. Petting the slug, she quietly waited for her friend to finish.  
“No, I just- I’m on call for a job. I didn’t- didn’t get another gig, this is, like a, I just need to reschedule. I know there’s no time m’am, but this is important, please. I have to take a couple days but after that I’m free.” Three sighed. “Thank you. Have a good day.”  
Delthea dropped on the floor beside Eight, taking the slug in her arms.  
“Thank cod.”  
“She was quiet. That’s good, right?”  
“Yes, but now I’m on thin ice. Gotta watch what I say and do now or there’s not going to be a job.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry.”  
“You didn’t do anything, Eight.” The octoling watched, concerned at the look in Three’s eyes.  
“Are you feeling okay?”  
“I’m getting by, aren’t I big guy? Hehe, don’t worry!”  
“But are you going to be able to dj with your head?” Delthea hugged the the slug closer and stared at her phone.  
“If you’re hurting-“  
“I need the money, Eight.” She didn’t like twiddling her thumbs when her friends got like this, but Eight didn’t have much else she could do. She had only recently applied for a part-time, which wouldn’t be half as much needed to support Delthea.  
“None of this is fair.”  
“Hm?”  
“You’re in pain, but still have to work, there’s nothing I can do to help you, help miss Ida, Seven, nothing!”  
“Seven? What happened? She okay?”  
“She... hasn’t been talking to me-I don’t wanna talk about it.” Delthea got back up, passing the slug to Eight, with said weight catching her off balance.  
“Let’s talk about something else then. Where have you been staying? I know Seven has been crashing on Suezshi’s couch, where have you been?”  
“Miss Hozuki and Ida took us in.”  
Del ducked into the fridge. “Us? So you and Seven are their kids now?”  
“I know I am.”  
“And Seven is...”  
“Apprehensive to the idea. Miss Ida and Houzuki said they’d be fine with both of us, but she wanted some time to think on it.”  
“Hm. With Seven being Seven, not surprised. Come to think of it, how many people up here are Seven close to?” Eight threw her head to the side, but could only stutter as a response. Eight couldn’t say herself, she hadn’t even voiced Seven’s growing distance and refused to, the agents weren’t close to her, and the platoon was the only group Seven associated herself with anymore. Eight held the slug tighter.  
“Me. She has me. We’re just... having issues.” Three chuckled, passing Eight a soda with a font so odd there was no way for her to understand it.  
“Welcome to being a sister. If Seven goes through with it this definitely wont be your first fight.”  
“Do siblings do so often?”  
“Course. I’m guessing you’re an only child?”  
“Yuh huh. I got excited when Miss Houzuki talked about me and Seven as sisters.”  
“I can hear Pearl bragging about you from here. But you probably shouldn’t call her that anymore. Just call her mom, that’ll make things less awkward.”  
“I’ve always called her Miss Houzuki! And if she’s mom, what do I call Miss Ida?”  
“I...“ Del started to retreat, “you should ask your mother.”  
“Which one?! Delthea!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m hoping to go back and forth between the four, but hoping to stick with Four and Seven.
> 
> Also Dj Sango.


	4. Station Center

“This seems like a pretty crappy subway. Now, where are the secrets?” Four slid down the banister ahead of Seven, then running over to a rundown snack machine. They scanned the large room, one much more enthusiastic than the other. Any evidence of the phone itself was taken. No blender parts or the stand where it stood. The glass had been mostly cleaned up from where Agent Three crashed through the ceiling, much like the two octarians when first entering the metro. Seven was thankful it wasn’t noted by Four. It made sense, the whole station was always in it’s run down state. Lights still sparked and swung from cut lines, the occasional tile thrown across the room, the place was and would most likely always be a mess.

“Such secrets reside farther in. Have patience.” Seven walked toward the edge of the platform before Four caught her arm.  
“What are you doing?!”  
“There’s no walkway. Listen and cross,” She went into octo form and hopped over the gap, “Think a street.”  
“Oh. That’s unhealthy.” Four shrugged before tagging behind.  
“Now we wait for Conductor C.Q. to stop here then we can get to the entertainment.”  
“You just love that word, don’t cha? Wait, wait, wait.” 

“If you so desperately need to fill the time, follow me.” Seven went over to a locker set at the wall. Four startled at the shaking one, but the octoling pulled her over to the other corner. Kicking one open, she grabbed the standard issue ink tank.  
“Nice, that some new gear for me?”  
“Old gear for us. We only get one tank.”  
“One?! How are we supposed to deal with just one? Where do I find mine?”  
“You don’t. Only one of us could go in at a time. And don’t try to sneak either you or your own in. The conductor will dispose of us swiftly.”  
“This suuuucks!” She groaned, but still put on the pack.  
“Just wait until you fail a mission.”  
“I feel fear. What is it?”  
“It explodes.” Seven passed Four, missing the squid’s horrified expression.

“Excuse me?”  
“It will explode. I’m also going to check your back every mission. Along with any other injuring you aquire. If left alone for too long the scarring can be, unpleasant, to say the least.”  
“You said I’m gonna lose a lot, Sevs.”  
“Oh you will. Experience through failure.”  
“And scarring?”  
“You’ve seen what happened to Agent Three. You’ll be fine if we check your wounds, so no hiding one, even if you think it would be so cool to keep.”  
“Alright, alright, I’m not an idiot, I got you.”  
“You will also be able to tell the difference between getting splatted with sanitized ink in comparisson to ink in turf wars.”  
“Lemmie guess, instead of fuzzies it hurts, right?”  
“You catch on quick.”  
“Then why strap some to your back?!”  
“Why not ask the conductor yourself?” Four ran back to Seven as the train came into view.  
“Yeah, I’ll leave the talking to ya, buddy. You’ve got about a couple years worth of history, right? You don’t need me, haha?” Four started stepping behind the tall agent. Seven laughed.  
“Don’t fret, he isn’t as terrifying as you think.”

The car was empty, but was surely going to be remidied soon.  
“C’mon, lets have a seat.”  
“Let’s go to the back, I wanna watch everything go by!” Four ran off again. Seven stepped into the car, smile on her face dropping. There was no suitcase in the corner anymore, but a magazine was missed. Four picked it up.  
“Ooo! I didn’t know this shipped underground too! How many issues are spread down here?” Seven took it back.  
“This is Eight’s. She knew she missed some. I thought Captain said he didn’t see any left!”  
“It’s Cap’n Cuttlefish, he isn’t all there at his age.” Seven wasn’t sure which agent is was that returned for Eight’s belongings, but she was sure to knock some sense into them for forgetting one. Eight was lucky none were stolen!

“Can I say it?” Oh, oh Four was talking. Damn.  
“I’m sorry, what?”  
“Sevs. I’m on a train. I may not have a whistle, but I got the phrase! Please, please, please? The car is empty!”  
“Yeah yeah, very well, go ahead-“  
“ALL ABOARD!” Seven covered her ears.  
“You couldn’t have stepped back or warn me?”  
“Hehe, sorry purps!”


	5. A05

Suezshi gazed up into the foggy pseudo sky. When looking through the fencing, the clouds seems to go forever. It was hard to even see past the train. The flourescent lights blended in too well with the bright fog to really be of any use. It was a bit difficult to see what the shape floating was. The tails gave it away to the inkling.  
“Is that a kite?”  
“Hm? Yes.”  
“Who set that up?”  
“It’s been there since me and Eight first arrived.”  
“Is there anyone on the other side of that gate to make it?”  
“No. The octolings don’t have any free will to do so.”

“A’s basic though?”  
“Good introduction. ‘05 will be easy. You can deal with octolings, correct?”  
“Oh, yeah, they’re, like, so easy!” Seven sighed.  
“Okay so I have issues, but like I said, this is basic, I got this!”  
“Hopefully. Just scan the CQ-80 and you’ll be in there until splatted 3 times. Watch yourself.” Four skipped backwards, “You got it dude!”

Suezshi was dashed through the gate. The light from above started to be obscured, replaced by the factory esque blue, shining on the little too off for the agent’s liking. Trees commonly had covers above, but it seemed as if the entire tree was plastic. Four was used to open space, not the claustraphobia the steel and crowded trees provided.

“Target acquired.” Of course she was given the high ground.  
“Destroy.” She came down, time for Suezshi to prove herself!  
She threw the splat bomb immidiately, dashing rightwards before crashing into hard plastic. Four ducked back into her ink before the sanatized ink started burning her. She started hopping until she got back into her own ink and rounding back.  
Four swam up to the girl, popping back and knocking them into a hanging cord. They to leaped backwards, getting lose all but the weapon itself. They was easy enough to splat. 

Maybe the stations weren’t too bad?  
“First checkpoint. Don’t get cocky.”  
“Did I say that aloud?”  
“I could feel it. Keep going.”  
“No need to fear, I got this.”  
Suezshi grabbed the armor, thankfully donning her usual padded hoodie and helmet.

“Seek and destroy.”  
Between the two in the room, Four went for the roller first, her bomb only landing in front of the octarian. She took a hit straight on, but managed to splat her. Suezshi started shooting in the brella’s direction, again tossing a splat bomb, only resulting in the crates to the side’s destruction, but giving her more armor.  
She started aiming for her side, but any damage was continually deflected.  
The octarian shot to her right, but Suezshi wasn’t there. Instead, she came from above, but only hitting the open brella before running out of ink. But the brella shot away leaving them stuck in pink, leaving an opening for the inkling. She dropped from her perch, quickly trying to regain ink, scarcely missing a point blank shot before splatting.

“You’ve been quiet, purps. You good?”  
“Focus Four.”  
“Sorry for caring then.”  
“Speaking with me will get you killed agent.”  
“‘Speaking with me meh me meh.’”

Suezshi threw out a bomb before entering, yet nothing seemed to pop out at her. She ran forward before ducking back. Hearing the usual mantra, she went for a shot as they dropped down. Four quickly started feeling a cold searing around her neck. Those dualies had longer range, it was going to be hard to brute force the kill. 

She jumped out of her ink around the tree, continuing forward as the octoling activated her ink jet.  
“Really?!”  
Four went for the tower trick, but the octoling just flew over her head before falling on the other side.  
“Four, cut her off!”  
“Talking!”  
She fell again, getting in close quarters and losing her first armor while the octarian kept dashing around her.  
“The ink, Four!”  
“Fine!”  
She shot around the space the octoling dashed from, turning to see them nearing the wall. In the corner, taking out an armor, but managing to finally splat her.

“Woohoo... that was fun.”  
“Too bad then.”  
“What? What?!”  
The walls behind her opened, revealing another side of the railway and a floating gold contraption.  
“Where are they? Can you at leasts tell me that?”  
“That’s the end.”  
“But-“  
“Just touch it.” Suezshi looked around her. Touch the sparking machine, that sounded beautiful. Welp, there went nothing.  
“Four no!”  
“Shit! What the hell?!” Her hand did get the reaction she was expecting, but she had hoped for less pain!  
“You shoot it until it connects.”  
“... How does that make sense?!”  
“Just do what you’re told, agent.”  
“Alright! Alright. Cod.”

Four was super jumped back to the start of the station, getting scanned and armor taken.  
“Wh- why?”  
“No weapons, no armor.”  
“Mind telling me what that was all about?!”  
“There’ll be times when no one will yell in your ear. You need to be able to strategize on the move, especially if alone. And not wildly touching sparking objects.”  
“Whatev- agh!” Suezshi brushed her chin, reminding her of the octoling’s lucky shot.  
“You got hit even with armor.”  
“Sorry I don’t have a mouth guard, ‘lieutenant.’” Seven scowled. Grabbing Suezshi’s arm, she dragged the two back onto the train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back through ao5 to try and be accurate and practice writing combat cause I suck at it, sorry if you can read that.


	7. Chapter 7

Suezshi was in a staring contest with the fish across from her. They seemed to be a flounder, so it wasn’t like he could turn away easily. But it felt as if the eyes dragged along with her no matter how much the car was shook.  
“Agh!”  
“Stay still, I am almost finished.”  
“Sure Jan.” Suezshi kept leaning from side to side, not only trying to dodge the seemingly following eyes, but Seven’s whatever it was felt fuzzy and irritating on her neck and chin. Admittedly, better than the pain, but a big annoyance.  
“You just can’t stop moving, can you?”  
“It feels weird.”  
“If you would stay in place this would be done sooner.”  
“It’s the train! I can stay put.” She huffed.  
“Doubtful.”  
“Oh really? People need to for, I dunno, sleeping?”  
“You roll in your sleep.”  
“Excuse me then, cause I’d kno-dang it!”  
“What was it you said? ‘Sure Jan?’ Calm down.” Suezshi glanced around, seeing the whole car’s gazes on her. Thus, the inkling quieted quickly. Unfortunately, this resulted in her quirming further.

“There. Any stains should fade soon enough. Try not to pick, but your neck will be fine otherwise.” Seven pulled Suezshi’s hood up, nudging her head to the floor.  
“Remain quiet, head down, they’ll turn away soon enough.” She trained her gaze onto her snowboots. If anything, Four was glad that her friend had calmed. She didn’t know how bad she was at her job, let alone make Seven mad. Then why didn’t Marie get angry with her, especially with the factor her cousin’s dissapearance?

Maybe it did have something to do with the lieutenant job. Suezshi had no idea what a profession like that would do to how a person would act, maybe Seven had to get angry. Though Callie and Eight were so sweet? Cap’n can get steamed but most of the time he’s a cooky happy guy! Suezshi sighed. This was going to be hard as heck. Four slumped down into her seat and placed her head on Seven’s shoulder. She froze, but went back to her pack before Suezshi could lean off. 

The inkling watched her re-organize her first aid kit.  
“Where’d you get the, forgetting the word-“  
“Ointment.”  
“Yeah. You or Eight make it?”  
“Supplied by Comabo Industries with the ink pack.”  
“Yeah, I can see that. ‘It’s fine, pleasured customer! If any injuries happen, just put some goo on it!’” Four chuckled.  
“It would be more entertaining if you were wrong. Or your acting was anywhere close.”  
“Nice one, buddy.”  
“Following your example.”  
“Isn’t that the reverse of what we’re trying to do down here?”  
“Yes.” ...  
“Oh. Hehe, yeah.” Suezshi picked at her chin. 

Damn. Almost forgot about how mediocre she was. She had to keep her mind in the game. But hey! She gets any better and it’ll be mission accomplished. Less of a burden. 

“How’s Eight?”  
“... Why would I know?”  
“You guys are close. I haven’t seen her in awhile, kind of hoped you have.”  
“Me neither.”  
“Okaaay. Do you know about Del?”  
“I rarely see Agent Three, why-?”  
“Nah nah, I actually wanted to tell you. Wanna hear?”  
“No, I don’t.”  
‘And she’s pissy again. Way to go, gremlin,’ Four flinched, “Do you got anyone to talk about?”  
“We could go over your performance from earlier.”  
“We’re done talking now, aren’t we?”  
“As you wish.” Seven ducked through the crowd ahead of them, leaving Suezshi in the backseat.

She picked up the C.Q.80 and scanned through the lines. The agent had to prove herself quickly, or Seven might decide to drag the two back topside faster than she could say ‘stay fresh.’  
‘Stay fresh?’ Ugh, Callie was rubbing off on her.

Anyway, Seven had been planning on going letter by letter, like a power scaling, but maybe she could speed up the process a bit. Just send them to another station. It’ll be great!  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The awkwardness was intentional but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did so on accident.


End file.
